Menshevik
Gradualist Russian socialist
Menshevik refers to a member of the moderate faction of the Russian Social Democratic Party that split from the Bolsheviks in 1903.
The Mensheviks favored gradual reform and cooperation with liberal parties, while the Bolsheviks under Lenin pursued revolutionary seizure of power.
After the 1917 revolution, the Bolsheviks suppressed the Mensheviks.
The term comes from Russian for "minority," though the Mensheviks often held majority support—the name stuck from an early vote they lost.
Soviet state founder
- socialismCommunal economic control
- revolutionViolent governmental overthrow
- factionGroup within group
- moderatesReduces intensity or extremity
gradualism · reformism · minority · majority · split · Marxism · proletariat · vanguard
Early twentieth century
- Russian RevolutionSoviet founding upheaval
- February Revolution1917 Russian imperial collapse
- October RevolutionSoviet founding coup
- civil warDomestic armed conflict
emigration · suppression · exile · Georgia · 1917 · Duma · White Army · counterrevolution
Lenin
Soviet state founder
- socialismCommunal economic control
- revolutionViolent governmental overthrow
- factionGroup within group
moderates · gradualism · reformism · minority · majority · split · Marxism · proletariat · vanguard · party
1903
Early twentieth century
- Russian RevolutionSoviet founding upheaval
- February Revolution1917 Russian imperial collapse
- October RevolutionSoviet founding coup
civil war · emigration · suppression · exile · Georgia · 1917 · Duma · White Army · counterrevolution · persecution
MenshevikBolshevik
Soviet communist party member
Bolsheviks · Leninist · Bolshevism · Stalinist · Trotskyist
Menshevikradical
Root-indicating symbol
revolutionary · extremist · hardliner · maximalist · insurrectionist